Pats Reach Postseason

Cook, Armstrong To Start For Afc In Honolulu

Patriots' Improvement Shows In Pro Bowl

December 19, 1991|By TERRY PRICE; Courant Staff Writer

FOXBORO, Mass. — As a television cameraman tried to focus on Patriots defensive end Garin Veris teammate Brent Williams started to shake the camera and yell, "earthquake." Offensive linemen Stan Clayton and Elbert Crawford, and a half dozen other players, cackled.

Wednesday was one of the rowdiest and happiest days of the season in the Patriots locker room. It gets like that when a team begins to reap the rewards of a good season.

Tight end Marv Cook and offensive tackle Bruce Armstrong were the biggest beneficiaries. They were awarded free trips to Honolulu by virtue of being named starters for the AFC in the Pro Bowl Feb. 2.

"From team success, comes individual honors," said Patriots coach Dick MacPherson , a candidate for AFC coach of the year. "The more team success you have, the more individual honors you get. Also, the other bonus is the better the team success, the more you can enjoy the individual honors. It means you are part of whatever happened to make them good."

It was the second consecutive selection for Armstrong. Cook made it for the first time in his three-year career.

"The greatest thing is to be recognized by your peers," Cook said. "It's an honor."

Armstrong, in his fifth season, has started all 75 games he's played for the Patriots and participated in every offensive play this season. Cook has 78 receptions, first among NFL tight ends and fifth overall. He was named the starter over the Raiders' Ethan Horton. "I think that Marvin Cook is the kind of person that everybody would like to have on their football team because he maximizes everything that he is," MacPherson said. "He's always where he's supposed to be. He's got great humility, great concern, great sensitivity. Everybody admires him and likes him. For that kind of a guy to get that kind of reward when he's not the most

gifted tight end in the AFC is fantastic."

While it might be somewhat unrealistic to expect a 6-9 team to have more than a couple of Pro Bowl selections, there was disappointment the picks stopped with Cook and Armstrong. Brown, the Patriots' leading tackler, is reknowned for his hard hitting and has had a Pro Bowl-type season. "In my mind, he was a lock," Williams said. "He is the leader of our defense."

MacPherson predicted Brown would be a Pro Bowl selection next season.

"Vincent Brown established himself for 1991 and the fruits of it will be 1992," MacPherson said. "I'll be very surprised if it doesn't happen. Now his name is there and it's being mentioned and he's being watched. Sometimes it takes that time." Brown was mildly disappointed in not being selected. "Just finishing fifth or sixth is an honor," Brown said. "Guys like Russell and Fryar who had fabulous years, they weren't named as starters. You can't measure how good a season you've had on whether you make the Pro Bowl. I think my year was comparable with the starters who made the Pro Bowl." Fryar, having his best season with a career-high 63 catches for 956 yards and Russell (914 yards), an AFC rookie of the year candidate, also put up Pro Bowl numbers. .

Cook thought Fryar should have been one of the four wide receivers named. The Bills' Andre Reed and the Oilers' Haywood Jeffires are the starting wide receivers, backed up by the Bills' James Lofton and the Dolphins' Mark Clayton.

"Especially with the respect he has in the league and the year he's had," Cook said. "He's been double-covered all year and he still comes up and makes the big play for us. I'm shocked he didn't get it."